Psychic Abilities
Psychic Abilities Psychic abilities seem to divide into two types— ones which are more trouble than they’re worth (using the Sight can drive you mad; Cassandra’s Tears is more a source of sorrow than solace), and those which break the hell out of the Laws of Magic (Domination being a good example). Cassandra’s Tears '0' Description: '''You are afflicted by the condition known as Cassandra’s Tears—you have a limited ability to see the future and predict the shape of things to come. But there’s a big downside: most people simply ignore or won’t believe your warnings. '''Musts: '''You must take Cassandra’s Tears or some similar variant as an aspect (because it’s going to get compelled—lots). '''Skills Affected: '''Social skills. '''Effects: Unbelievable Predictions. '''''You are able to make precognitive predictions or receive them from the GM. This places an aspect on the “world” related to the prediction that remains until it comes true or is otherwise resolved. See the guidelines on page 324 for more details about predictions. Whenever trying to warn people about what you foresee, you are at a –2 to any attempts to convince them that what you’re saying is correct. '''Incite Emotion '–1' '''Description: '''You are able to incite certain strong emotions in a target—usually emotions of passion or pain. Dark or morally “corrupt” emotions (lust, wrath, despair, and others) are the usual ones available. Emotions created by this ability are real, but not True, so True Love, Courage, Hope, and so forth are off the table. '''Options: '''This ability costs 1 refresh to startand requires you to pick a single emotion you can incite, be it rage, lust, fear, protectiveness, or the like. More potent versions (see below) may be purchased by increasing the refresh cost. The emotion this ability incites may be changed under special circumstances, as part of character development. '''Skills Affected: Deceit,'Deceit, Intimidation . Effects: Emotion-Touch. '''''If you can touch someone, you can make him feel something. You’re ableto do maneuvers at +2 to your roll (using Intimidation for anger or fear and Deceit for every other emotion) that force an emotion on a target (as a temporary aspect), so long as you’re in the same zone as he is and you can physically touch him. The victim defends with his Discipline. You may be able to prevent the victim from taking other actions as well if you do this as a block (page 210) ''instead ''of as a maneuver. '''Psychometry '–1' '''Description: '''You have a semi-magical (“psychic”) talent for catching glimpses of the past when you touch objects. '''Skills Affected: Investigation .' Effects: Echoes of the Past. '''''You can perform an assessment action on the history of a given object that you are able to touch and contemplate. This is a standard Investigation roll, but instead of searching a physical location, you are rifling through the situations that the object has been exposed to in the past, looking for glimpses of something significant. Psychometry assessments are more difficult than normal (Good or higher), so even with a high roll, you may only get one aspect or fact, and you may not receive any additional context to help you make sense of it. For example, a knife used as a murder weapon might only give you fleeting images from the scene, not enough to make a positive ID on the killer; but you might see something like A Butterfly Necklace that you can tag later as a clue on a future roll. '''The Sight '–1' '''Description: 'Wizards and others have learned to open their third eye, perceiving the magical world in great detail. The downside here is that the often phantasmagorical images are burned into their brains—never forgotten, always ''vivid. '''Musts: '''You must have a high concept that shows either that you are a spellcaster or that you have received training of some kind to open your third eye. '''Skills Affected: Lore , Discipline .' Effects: Arcane Senses. ''Even with your third eye closed you have heightened arcane senses. You may use Lore as if it were an arcane Investigation skill as well as an arcane Alertness skill. You also gain +1 to Lore when using it in this fashion. ''Wizard’s Touch. ''As another aspect of your arcane senses, when you touch another being who has some magic potential, the GM may ask you to roll Lore to catch just a hint of a “spark”—indicating their nature as something other than mundanely mortal. Even on a failed roll, you might experience some sort of sense that something is “off,” without being able to pin it down. ''Opening the Third Eye. ''You may use the Sight to fully open your third eye, with all of the risks and rewards that come with it. '''Soulgaze –1 '''Description: '''Wizards (and a rare few others) have the ability to gaze upon another’s soul directly—but only the first time they make more than a moment of eye contact, and only if the one they gaze upon actually has a mortal soul. When it doesn’t happen, that in and of itself is an interesting piece of information! '''Skills Affected: 'Conviction , Discipline . 'Effects: ' ''Soulgaze. ''You are subject to the uses and effects of Soulgaze.' 'Application of the Sight +1. '''If you have the Sight, above, you must take Soulgaze for free.